Newsmax Inc. (NMAX) has turned its founder and CEO, Christopher Ruddy, into a billionaire overnight, thanks to a stunning stock market debut that saw shares soar 735% on the first day of trading.
The conservative news network raised $75 million by selling shares at $10 each in its Monday initial public offering (IPO). But as trading kicked off, the stock price skyrocketed to close at $83.51, triggering multiple trading halts due to extreme volatility.
Ruddy, 60, remains firmly in control of Newsmax, holding 39.2 million Class A shares through a revocable trust. Each of these shares carries 10 votes, securing his grip over 81% of the company’s decision-making power. He did not offload any of his shares during the IPO, and his current stake is valued at approximately $3.3 billion. 
Other major shareholders in the media company include Thomas Peterffy, the billionaire founder of Interactive Brokers Group Inc., who owns 23 million shares through Conyers Investments LLC, now worth $1.9 billion. Additional investors include Qatari royal Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al-Thani, whose firm Heritage Advisors holds 19.7 million shares, and Ukrainian industrialist Vadim Shulman.
With this surge in stock value, Newsmax’s market capitalization has ballooned to over $10.7 billion. Despite its high valuation, the Boca Raton, Florida-based company remains unprofitable, reporting a $72 million loss last year on revenue of about $171 million. By comparison, rival Fox Corp. — home to Fox News — generated $6.5 billion in revenue and posted a net income of $2.4 billion, with a market cap of nearly $25 billion.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox Corp., currently holds a net worth of $15.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Ruddy, who founded Newsmax in 1998 as a conservative news website, previously worked as a journalist for the New York Post and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The company expanded into television in 2014, carving out a niche as an alternative to Fox News.
Born and raised on Long Island, New York, Ruddy is the son of a police officer. He earned a history degree from St. John’s University before obtaining a master’s degree in public policy from the London School of Economics. Now based in West Palm Beach, Florida, he also has access to a corporate apartment in New York for business-related stays.
